Computer generated aircraft displays have become highly sophisticated and capable of displaying a substantial amount of flight management, navigation, and control information that gives flight crews more effective control of the aircraft and a reduction in workload. In this regard, electronic displays, such as Heads-Up Displays (HUDs) and Heads-Down Displays (HDDs), are used in aircraft as Primary Flight Displays to display important flight management, navigation, and control information to flight crews. For example, the Primary Flight Display can combine critical flight instrumentation (e.g., altitude, attitude, heading, airspeed, vertical speed instruments) and primary engine instrument indicators into a single, readily interpretable display.
Some Primary Flight Displays may provide a 3D, synthetic perspective view of the terrain surrounding the aircraft, including man-made and natural terrain. These images are typically based on pre-loaded and predetermined terrain data from a database. In some situations, the terrain data from the database may need to be updated over time, particularly when the terrain data relates to man-made obstacles such as buildings and movable vehicles.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods that increase the accuracy of terrain data displayed on a visual display, such as, for example, a Primary Flight Display, similar electronic aircraft displays, and other types of electronic displays. Particularly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods that display images of the terrain based on integrated data from both database and sensor sources. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.